Fulaaji
Fulaaji is a ruined city located deep in the Jebba Desert in the northern corner of Jamzodeh. History Fulaaji, founded in 665, was built on the shores of an inland lake that had appeared in the desert of the Dulqa a few years earlier. The city quickly grew into a prospering metropolis, for it boasted mines rich in limestone and gems. Fulaaji's stone cutters soon became renowned for their ability to shape rock into graceful creations. Architects raised sky-reaching towers to stand for all eternity, while gem cutters fashioned the greatest jewelry the world has ever known, including the Elephant Throne, which was created in the year 767. As decades passed, the wealth and pride of Fulaaji increased. Eventually, the citizens began to look on their own creations as semidivine achievements. The proud inhabitants began to worship as gods their own beautiful idols, masterfully carved from the finest jade, alabaster, and ivory. Soon the people of Fulaaji grew corrupted by their own success. When they no longer cared to work to support their own decadence, they began to instead steal from their "undeserving neighbors", claiming that they were directed by their idols. And so the citizens of Fulaaji prepared for war, turning their attentions from artistic and technological achievements to the practice of bloodshed. In the year 820, armies swept out of the city and descended upon defenseless neighbors, who were ill-equipped to withstand the onslaught. For one year the skies darkened with black, sooty battle smoke, and streets ran crimson with the blood of innocents. Many were captured and brought to Fulaaji in slavery, but some escaped to tell of the city's sinister deeds. This bellicose phase did not last long, for sloth and greed, not imperial aspirations, drove the people of Fulaaji. The victorious armies returned home laden with booty, and once again the populace grew fat and lazy with success. But in the year 993, when the troops departed for another season of looting, they met the prepared armies of the First Grand Caliph, Karas Odori, who harried them all the way back to their depraved city. The forces of the enlightenment eventually captured and plundered Fulaaji, but the most wicked citizens escaped into a network of catacombs beneath the city to continue their idolatrous ways. The Grand Caliph's armies departed, leaving Fulaaji a gutted ruin. Fulaaji never recovered from its great defeat. First, the beautiful lake dried up into the forbidding Sabkhat il-Swali, a great salt flat in the heart of the Dulqa. Fulaaji's fertile valley soon became the Jebba Desert, a rocky, alkaline desert incapable of supporting life. The city's few surviving inhabitants could not live off the land and found themselves shunned and distrusted by their neighbors. Before long, the entire city stood abandoned by inhabitants forced by famine and disease to move elsewhere. Stored underground during the First Grand Caliph's short occupation, Fulaaji's legendary idols never again graced their above-ground temples and shrines, even after the invading armies departed. Most of the idols' worshipers had barricaded themselves in the farthest reaches of the city's underground catacombs, some of which were rumored to extend beneath the lake. Few of these faithful followers ever emerged from the caverns; they starved themselves in the abysmal depths of the earth and sacrificed themselves to their twisted creations. Their restless spirits haunt the catacombs to this day, despising the light and the life they had foolishly squandered. Features of the Ruins Today, the devastated city draws quite a few caravans and adventurers, who think to plunder the ruins for ancient artifacts and treasures. Most of these expeditions turn back or are lost due to the extreme difficulty of traversing the shifting dunes of the Jebba, but some reportedly have made it to the legendary city. On their arrival, such adventurers doubtless were surprised to find Fulaaji not as deserted as the bazaar tales would have it. The ruins of Fulaaji resemble an island in the Sabkhat il-Swali, a great salt flat, which sends currents of fine salt powder howling into the streets during the day to sting the eyes and burn the lungs. The outer walls still stand, displaying the battering they received from the First Grand Caliph's army. Parties can enter the city easily through a number of wide breaches in the outer fortifications near the main causeway running across the salt flat from the ruins. Inside the sheltering walls, examples of the city's architecture remain intact - remarkable, given the centuries of neglect. Most buildings are constructed of large, limestone blocks fitted together without mortar. The vast majority of the city appears deserted - from the wide, grand bazaar to the dark, echoing covered markets and the salt-strewn warehouses. These lonely places now shelter birds and the occasional predator up from the catacombs or the Sabkhat il-Swali's powdery depths. The most impressive structures in Fulaaji are the four monolithic towers in the center of the city. A narrow, spiraling ramp built into the massive outer walls of these spires gives access to two dozen upper levels. Each tower contains enough living space to house a small army. The current inhabitants of the ruins live in the northern tower in the Noble Quarter, which has a commanding view of the ruins and the surrounding wasteland. Most large buildings, including all the monolithic towers, contain a hidden staircase or pit - sometimes only wide enough for a single person to squeeze through - descending to the network of caverns and vaults beneath the city. Secret doors conceal many of these entrances; others have been barricaded or shored up from the opposite side. The full extent of the dark corridors beneath the city is unknown. Map of the empire of Fulaaji at its height Category:Locations Category:Locations in Jamzodeh Category:Locations in the Kaspari Empire Category:Ruins